Along the Highways and Byways

NEIGHBORLY NOTES (continued): As we sit back and observe the passing parade, we are struck by the activities of the movie people in the state these past few months. Erol Flynn and a Warner's company have been around Flagstaff and Oak Creek canyon filming "Virginia City." It should be a dashing film, as are all the films in which the dashing Mr. Flynn is present.

A FEW NOTES ON THE STATE OF THE ROADS: A superior concrete highway is being laid between Williams and Flagstaff on U. S. 66.. this will replace an asphalt road that fussed up during wet weather.

A traveler returning from Guaymas tells us that the Hermosillo to Guaymas road in Mexico is well advanced in construction and that the trip between these two proud cities of Sonora can be made in two hours, the distance is 85 miles However, we also learn that the "vados" -dips in Spanish between Hermosillo and Santa Ana, on the Nogales road, are being bridged, which necessitates detours that really are detours Hermosillo, by the way, is now possessDOWN near Tucson, at a place properly designated as Goldwyn, Arizona, Samuel Goldwyn and company have been working on "The Westerner," a classic of the west featuring long, likeable Gary Cooper. The good people around Tucson, who have come into personal contact with Mr. Cooper during the filming of this epic, were charmed with his graciousness, and they say he is just as nice a person as anyone would care meet.

Another of "The Cisco Kid" stories is being filmed near Tucson by Los Hermanos Warner (Warner Bros. in case your Spanish is a little rusty.) And then the Columbia people are getting ready (if they haven't already done so) to translate Clarence Budington Kelland's "Arizona" to the celluloid reels. So you see things are a'doing.

Ended of two fine hotels for the traveler from the States. There is the old standby, the Ramos, and a new hostelry, the Hotel Lavel, very modern and well equipped, which has rates from six to twelve pesos a day. At this writing, a dollar is worth about five pesos; so you can see travel in Sonora is not expensive.

The Laval maintains a fine dining room, as does the Ramos. Remember either of these hotels when your travel legs take you to the capital city of Sonora Not long ago "The Gentleman from Arizona" had its premier in Phoenix. This picture was made in Arizona, with an Arizona company bolstered by J. Farrell MacDonald, veteran of the screen. Done in technicolor, the western is distinguished for its music and its scenery. And also by way of notation, we find that a film group is on permanent location at Prescott engaged in the production of a group of westerns in which Tim McCoy will be featured.

Incidentally, and purely postscript, we might call your attention to accommodations in Guaymas should you get down that way fishing this season. There is, of course, Playa de Cortes, the beautiful and sumptuous resort maintained by the Southern Pacific of Mexico, and a modern bungalow court by the name of Miramar Beach. Both cater to the American traveler. Miramar Beach is very inexpensive and is equipped essentially for the American in Mexico That writing man, Mr. Kelland, has turned his sharp, alert pen on another Arizona historical theme, which he entitles "Valley of the Sun!" The Saturday Evening Post ran the first of the eight installments in the issue of Dec. 16, and, as you may suspect, it is enjoying great success. "Valley of the Sun" is the second of a trilogy, the first of which appeared last year under the title "Arizona." We understand Mr. Kelland is at work on the last of the three historical novels at this time. What with his citrus grove, his three horses and his cattle herd consisting of a single heifer, Mr. Kelland is leading a busy life this winter during his sojourn in Arizona. A gentleman in Arizona!

As strange as it seems, you can travel with comfort throughout Sonora without knowing one word of Spanish. We will relate an incident: an American arrived at the Hotel Ramos one evening enroute to Guaymas. He stayed at the Ramos and developed a desire for plain American ham and eggs. He struggled to give his order to the waitress, a Mexican girl, who apparently knew no English, but finally nodded her head and went to the kitchen. She sung out to the cook in the best American fashion: "Ham an'! Eggs over easy!"